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INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia KAMPUS IPOH, 31150 HULU KINTA PERAK DARUL RIDZUAN ACTION RESEARCH 1- TESL METHODOLOGY ( TSL 3133 ) KERJA KURSUS Nama : SAW SOCK PHEI (IC No. 750423075286) Program : PPG Ambilan : Februari 2012 Unit : PPG TESL KORHOT 2/2014 SEMESTER 7 Pensyarah : PUAN YASHWANORA BT YAHAYA Tarikh Hantar : 28 hb MARCH 2015 1

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INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU

Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia

KAMPUS IPOH, 31150 HULU KINTA

PERAK DARUL RIDZUAN

ACTION RESEARCH 1- TESL METHODOLOGY ( TSL 3133 )

KERJA KURSUS

Nama

: SAW SOCK PHEI

(IC No. 750423075286)

Program

:PPG

Ambilan

:Februari 2012

Unit

:PPG TESL KORHOT 2/2014 SEMESTER 7

Pensyarah

:PUAN YASHWANORA BT YAHAYA

Tarikh Hantar :28hb MARCH 2015

Table of ContentContent Page

Content i1.0 Background of Study

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Reflection 2-6

2.0 What is the Focus of my Study? 7 2.2 What have I learnt about my research issue? 8

2.2.1 Definition of terms 11

3.0 What are the research objectives and research questions? 12

4.0 Who will be my research participant be? 13-14

5.0 How will I collect my data? 15-19

6.0 What is my recommended intervention? 20-28

7.0 How will I analyze my data ? 29

8.0 Conclusion 30

USING PICTURE SUBSTITUTION TABLE IN IMPROVING SIMPLESENTENCE CONSTRUCTIONS AMONG YEAR 5 PUPILS OF SJKC

HING HWA

by

Saw Sock Phei

[email protected]

Mdm. Yashwanora Bt Yahaya1.0 Background of the Study1.1 Introduction

SJKC Hing Hwa is a SKM (Sekolah Kurang Murid )school. The total enrolment is 86 pupils for year 2015.I was built in the year of 1924. The purpose for building this school is due to the constraints faced by people who lived around Tambun area in sending their children to school, where on that time, parent have to travel quite a distance to send their children to school in Ipoh and they are facing problems in transportation.So, this problem had caught the attentions of a few locals such as Mr. Kok Kim Siew, Mr. Fan Siew and Mr. Kok Kim Seng to come out with the idea to built a school nearby to provide a formal Chinese education for the villagers children. Soon, this people become the pioneers of this school. This school has been established after three years later with an enrolment of 80 pupils.Now in the year of 2015, SJKC Hing Hwa is a school consisting multi races and cultural pupils such as 80% of Chinese , 10 % of Malay and 10% of Indian. There are also one slow learner and three pupils that need special attention and training. This school is situated in Tambun which is a small town area, the population here are mostly Malay, follow by Chinese and Indian. As the school building is behind Sekolah Kebangsaan Tambun which is a larger school so it is hardly seen by people who passed by this area. In my opinions, maybe due to this reason, many residences around Ipoh still do not notice the existing of this school, so SJKC Hing Hwa is not in the list of the choices of school that parents wish to sent their children. Parents prefer to sent their children to town schools such as SJKC Min Sin, SJKC Sam Tet, SJKC Ave Mariah and so on. 1.2 Reflection on the past teaching and learning experience

I have been teaching English language for fifteen years now. When I was just freshly graduated as a teacher in the year of 2000, I have been sent to a very rural area school name SK Kampung Dew, in Kampung Dew , Semanggol. Kampong Dew is a small village, where the villager earn their living by working in charcoal making industry, rubber estate, oil palm estate and others.

There was an enrolment of 100 over pupils during my first posting. The pupils here had very limited English background and exposure to English language. They learnt English in the classroom only and their mother tongue is Malay language. It was like writing English words on a piece of white paper, learning English depend on everything I have taught them, they have no interest and effort to study English language. I had a very hard time teaching in this school, as like scribbling on white paper is easy but to make pupils to understand English it will take a lot of effort and time.

On the other hand, as I am not a well experienced teacher, I have no place to seek for help in handling and teaching the pupils here. In teaching English, the most difficult and challenging is teaching pupils grammar. During teaching in the class, I used to translate words from English to pupils mother tongue. This enable my pupils to pay their attentions because it helped them to understand. I also drilled my pupils in the target language. This was when I was determined and decided to use Grammar Translation Method as the method in my teaching.

Praetor and Celce-Murcia (1979, p.3) listed the major characteristic of Grammar Translation Method, some of them are such as first, classes are taught in the mother tongue, with a little use of target language. Second, vocabulary is taught in the form of skill of isolated words. Third, long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given . Forth, drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.

Drillings had become the most activities I did with my pupils but still my effort caused bad result in pupils examination. Richard and Roger (2001,p.7) pointed out ,it has no advocates. It is a method for which there is no theory. There is no literature that offers a rationale or justification for it or that attempts to examine language teaching methodology in this book. Drilling and translating is not a good way of teaching as pupils will just rememberised what had been taught by me but they did not understand the lesson on that time, this caused pupils to make lots of mistakes and at last they will be fed up with the target language.

In the year of 2002, I have asked for a transfer and was shifted back to Ipoh to SK Pasukan Polis Hutan in Ulu Kinta, Ipoh. It was a school with almost 900 enrolments of Malay students where almost 95% pupils parents, either father or mother works as a police officer.

My teaching became more difficult as the pupils were still not from English background and with very limited exposure to English language. The pupils mother tongue is Malay language and it got worse when I have to face pupils in a class of 40 to 45 pupils. Class control had become another issues. It is not easy to think of activities that will involved a large number of pupils when you are teaching a language that pupils could not even understand. I have to use the pupils mother to teach English language. I have to do some translations in order to help my pupils to understand my teaching and still drilling was my favourite activities with them.

I drilled my pupils with vocabulary, phrases, grammar, sentence patterns and others. Whenever I had conducted group activity in English language, it will ended up with a Malay language class, where pupils will do their discussion in Malay language, I got frustrated and this had changed my teaching style. My teaching become dull and I got fed up but there was nothing I can do. Still there is no satisfaction I could gain in teaching, the pupils result still not good. I have been so used with Malay language in teaching rather than the subject language that I have to teach after many years feeling comfort with translations to Malay language during my teaching all these years. I think I could be a better Malay language teacher than an English teacher.

After eight years of teaching in SK Pasukan Polis Hutan, I have been shifted to another school which it might be a dream school for all English teachers, SK Tarcisian Convent, Ipoh. It was a totally different experiences if compared to the two previous schools that I have taught. I got a shocked to see their teaching and learning culture and it later motivated me to keep on upgrading my knowledge and skills in my teaching.

SK Tarcisian Convent is a school with enrolment of around 600 pupils. About 80% of pupils are from English educated family background and can speak fluently in English, mostly parents are both working. Quite of a number of parents are working as supervisors, own family businesses, teachers and others, there are some pupils where their parents are from higher social-economy stage society such as owner of big companies, lawyers, doctors and others.

In SK Tarcisian, I was teaching a class of standard one and three classes of standard three pupils in this school. Teaching the pupils especially all girls in this school was a relief and a turning point in my teaching life after ten years of teaching. It was totally different and challenging. I could do many kind of activities and conducted them in fully English language. Although the pupils have been streamed according to their final examinations every year, there were many pupils that are still could be considered as very good in English subject in the lower intermediate class. I have not much problems in teaching pupils vocabularies but again teaching grammar is the most difficult part. I have gain more confident and knowledge teaching pupils here.

Teaching grammar in a convent school was much different than teaching grammar in my two previous schools. The usage of mother tongue was less. Pupils here were able to converse well in English, although sometimes with a number of mistakes, it was still at an acceptable and understandable level of language. It was the first time, I was able to deliver my lesson in English. Some pupils speaks better English language than me, this group of pupils not just fluent but can comprehend well in English, English would be the first language for some of the pupils. Their level of acquisitions of English language gave me the motivation to work harder or else they will not show respect to me as their English teacher. Just then, I discovered that I have been so far left behind in learning and upgrading my English language. I was struggling for three months in the good class in order to speak and communicate with them in English, I did less speaking and more activities were planned to allow pupils to express their ideas more.

But luckily, I managed to overcome these problems. I had changed my teaching style, I started to practice the Direct Method. Richard and Rodgers(2001, p.12) summarized the principle of the Direct Method as classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language, only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught, grammar was taught inductively , the important of building up communication skills and others.

At last, after teaching in Tarsician Convent for nine months again I was shifted to a Chinese school, SJKC Hing Hwa. Pupils communicate formally 100% in Chinese language at school. I am glad that I have been sent to the convent school before I reached SJKC Hing Hwa. I have gone through many differences and done lots of changes to my weaknesses in teaching before this. Until now, it has been the fifth year of my teaching in this school. I am now teaching the standard one, standard four, five and six pupils. Five years of teaching, together with another English teacher, Miss Kuah, we have made many changes in this school. We manage to increase the students results in school and UPSR examination. It was a very motivating achievement but yet there still are some improvements that can be done to help my pupils in learning English language especially in learning grammar.

In SJKC Hing Hwa, most pupils think that learning English language is a disaster as they can hardly understand the language, they were forced to learn it and always this is the subject that would dragged their academic achievement down.

Another words, for them English language is a monster and so do English teacher too. I had a start with pupils in SJKC Hing Hwa, pretending that I did not speak other language except English. I speak English more because I believe that my pupils need to have more exposure. But it did not worked out well. So, I decided to do some translations during the lesson but pupils are not allow to speak in their mother tongue.

As cited by Anna-Maria Pinter (2006, p.30) a Canadian researcher, Jim Cummins, mentioned in his book entitled Language, Power and Pedagogy, has suggested that bilingual education can be very beneficial for children with regard to their general development, cognitive and other skills. One factor seems important in this process is to develop childrens mother tongue and second language literacy skills in parallel rather than neglecting the first language to make way for the second. I am totally agree with this statement, so my teaching in SJKC HIng Hwa would be in some translations in order to make students understand, I have increase oral communication, group works and lesson drilling activities. It has been working well until now but still I think that pupils in this school are still significantly weak in constructing simple sentences. They tend to ignore the changes of the singular and plural nouns with their verbs. I believe if I could help them to identify the differences in between the relation on noun and verb and on how do they match them in a simple sentences, this would give me more motivation and satisfaction teaching in this school.

I have been teaching my year five pupils since they were in year one, together they learnt the target language with me. But why there are still at the different levels in the English language achievement? I have conducted my teaching with them as a class but why they are still at the different levels? Why some can construct simple sentences correctly and some failed to do that? 2.0 What is the focus of my study?

Based on the Kurikulum Standard Sekolah rendah (KSSR), writing skill is required to teach solidly in one lesson for the English Language subject. The reason is because writing skill is one of the most important skill which are essential for the pupils to foster confident, self-expression and communication. In addition to that, grammar will just be introduce when pupils reach year four class. With the limit vocabulary that they have learnt in the year earlier sometimes cannot workout for pupils in this class.Through my observation, I discover that pupils in year five class are facing difficulties in constructing simple sentences as evidence in the writing task. As I have been teaching them since they were in year 1, I notice that 3/14 pupils in this class are able to construct correct sentences all the time. 7/14 of pupils have the ability to construct simple sentences with minor mistakes where they sometime may have forgotten the SVO rules that should be considered in constructing simple sentences. 4/14 pupils are slow learners and 1 of them is a special need pupil (OKU) with no ability in constructing any sentences.

Next, I believe the pupils who are not able to construct simple sentences is due to the interferences of the first language which affect second language. Further, as mentioned by Abby Pavlikin in her journal (2012, p.11), Chinese dont change with the subject, either, Fu (2003). For example, we eat, you eat, and he eats would all be said the same way, with no change, as is carried out in English, for the third person singular pronoun. Altogether, any kind of English verb inflection, whether related to time or subject, is difficult for Chinese ELLs to acquire. This happened frequently to pupils in this class.

Even though, when it is in pupils reading, pupils always omit the s sound at the end of the verb, they would rather say, Amin eat an apple. Than saying Amin eats an apple. I think pupils in Year 5 may be interfered by their first language at school and tend to left out the s after every verbs for plural subject in their simple present sentences construction. They are so used of making sentences without noticing the form of subject as they do in Chinese and even Malay language.

In relation to the context of this action research proposal, the difficulty in constructing simple sentences in pupils writing had create a tendency for them to make some errors in the writing product. Pupils usually some errors in spelling, capitalization and punctuation but the common errors that can be found in pupils writing is subject-verb agreement. This has caused pupils for not be able to empower the writing skills and they tend to lose marks in their examination especially in their English test , paper 2. The difficulty in constructing simple sentences among pupils often demotivate them in learning the target language.

2.2 What have I learnt about my research issue? On a concern that I have comes from what I have observed in my career for the past 14 years of my teaching. Since I have been shifted to SJKC Hing Hwa five years ago, I have discovered a majority of pupils do not have the ability to construct simple sentences. Sentences construction is a common issue for most pupils in Chinese school. If they cannot construct simple sentences properly this will affect their accuracy in using the target language.

A research in second language acquisition by Fuller & Gundel (1987) suggests that most learners pass through an early topic prominent stage regardless of their first language. In analyzing the elicited oral narratives produces by low-intermediate learners of English, these researchers found no significant differences between native speaker of topic-prominent language and those of subject-prominent language in their use of subject agreement in English Most of the nonnative speakers made more than 10 errors demonstrating lack of agreement. Yet since speakers of topic-prominent language are not prepared by their first language to expect the relationship between subject and verb to be marked in any way. Pupils with this problem will not be able to converse well in English as they are not be able to understand standard grammatical treatments state for the verbs other than be, number agreement between the subject and verb poses a problem in the present tense. Where third person singular form are explicitly inflected while other forms are not.

I have learnt that my pupils tends to simplify and leave off altogether the third person singular inflection. Example : Jenny live in Ipoh . However, sometimes pupils will over generalize the inflection and apply it to uninflected forms such as auxiliaries or to verbs following modals for examples, Jack cans dance disco. Or Jack can dances disco. They may also overuse it as an agreement marker with subjects of inappropriate person or numbers for examples, I goes to school., They goes to school. Or You goes to school. Yet, another reasons what some pupils overuse this form is that they interpret the-s ending as a plural marker on the verb to be used in agreement with plural subjects, for example, They goes to the movies often. Or The boys goes to the movies often. This has affected the qualities of their writing especially in writing short essay. In their essays writing, I have found plenty of mistakes caused by their lack understanding of the subject agreement. Although , I still be able to identify their main ideas and know what do they were trying to express in their writing but too many mistakes had distracted me to award them with higher marks especially in their tests or examinations. Even in their daily writing works, with a lot of correction that have been detected by teacher and correction that they have to do, pupils begin to get demotivate and this have affected their level of confidence in learning English language.

Pupils also having difficulties in their reading, where they tend to make mistakes to left out of the-s at behind of the verbs. I have been correcting pupils regarding this issue for many times but the same problems will occur during reading. It seems that they do not bother about my explanations. They just read it because the teacher asked them to do that. Why do pupils always omit the -s ? I think it is depend on the pupils age , language background and what they have learn in class. A number ofstudieshave shown that students acquire English languagemorphemesin a fairly predictable fashion, regardless of language background, age and what they learn in class. I think maybe pupils are not clear with rule that perhaps was misunderstood or only partially learned. I have tried to make students more sensitive to subject / verb agreement in the input that surrounds them, the more theynoticeand re-notice the third person -s outside the classroom, the more likely they are to restructure theirinterlanguage. Besides that, encourage students to monitor their speech, which might contribute to long-term overall accuracy is very important too.

According to Diane Larsen-Freeman (2003) , grammar is one of the three dimensions of language that are interconnected. Grammar gives us the form or the structure of language. It tells us how to construct a sentence. Pupils are having difficulty in identifying the concept of writing simple sentences in English language. In my opinions, first pupils should understand the concept of a simple sentence, that is the correct words order, example the basicword orderofmain clauses and subordinate clausesin present-day .

In addition to that, pupils should know that subject is the noun that should be place at the beginning of each sentences, pupils must have sufficient list of verbs and understand that object is the person or thing that correspondent to the verb. This has become the main difficulty for the year five pupils as I believe that pupils are confused with the explanations of grammatical rule of SVO. I have observed and learnt is in the form of pupils understanding towards grammar especially subjectverb agreement . Pupils can understand the concept in simple sentences construction during and after lesson by giving them the table, which was evidenced by the worksheet after the lesson but still they keep on making mistakes after a few days. I also drilled them with sentences patterns, pupils just repeat what I have read to them many times without real understanding so it did not work out properly. Pupils seemed to rely so much on the table, without the table they were not able to write. Rememberising is another problems, pupils were asked to rememberize the sentence pattern and the table but they will forget after a certain periods of time, So, based on the things that I have learnt from pupils weaknesses.

I also asked them to copy down their notes in the exam paper once they have received the test paper although it managed to increase the number of correct sentences but it just worked out for other forms of sentences such as simple past sentences and simple present continues sentences. This made my pupils depend on the table all the time.

In addition to that it has created more confusions when they are speaking the target language as they could not carry the table along with them all the time and refer to it besides that speaking happened on the sport and spontaneously and needed immediate feedback. Traditional table just not work out well enough in helping my pupils. I got fed up from marking pupils works with the same mistakes. Although there some improvements after using the SVO table in my teaching but it is still not perfect as pupils still make mistakes.

According to David H and Gloria R (2003), You may have been told that a verb describes an action. However, just as with nouns, the notional definition of a verb does not always work. For example, own is a verb, but it is hardly to identify any action that takes place in sentence for example , John owns two houses.. I think my pupils are having difficulties in identifying and understanding the standard grammatical treatments state for the verbs other than be, the agreement between the subject and verb poses a problem in the present tense. Where third person singular form are explicitly inflected while other forms are not. So, in my picture substitution table I will provide pupils with the support of pictures showing them the action and label them with the correct form of inflection -s. After that pupils will construct sentences out of the substitution table.

Why do pupils make mistakes in constructing simple present sentences? Dont pupils understand that English language is a very unique language that apply special rules and regulations in its usage like other languages? What should I do? In line to this matter, I manage to come out with a SVO substitution table by using pictures to guide pupils to build up concepts on how simple present sentences can be constructed correctly.

2.2.1 Definition of Terms:

Picture Substitution Table

Picture is a visual representation or image painted, drawn, photographed, or otherwise rendered on a flat surface. Substitution table is a tableof sentences in which equivalents may besubstitutedfor their elements and which are used especially in grammar drill.A technique used to practice new language. It involves the teacher first modeling a word or a sentence and the learners repeating it. The teacher then substitutes one or more key words, or changes the prompt, and the learners say the new structure. In another words it is a substitution table which is supported by visual.Singular and plural form of verbs

Verbs can have singular and plural forms. There are some ways to indicate singular form of verbs. The base form of a verb is the form from which singular and plural forms of the verb are derived. The base form of any verb can be changed into a singular or plural, present tense verb by adding different endings such as -, -s, and es.

Sentence Construction

Construction is the process of making something, how a sentence is put together using words. Thearrangementofwordsaccordingtosyntacticalrules. For example, She walks to school. She is the subject, walks to school is the predicate.SVO

subjectverbobject(SVO) is a sentence structure where thesubjectcomes first, theverbsecond, and theobjectthird. Languages may be classified according to the dominant sequence of these elements. It is the most common order by number of speakers and the second most common order by number of known languages.3.0 What are the research objectives and research questions ? Research Objectives:1. To identify if picture substitution table improves pupils simple sentences

constructions.

2. To determine the effectiveness of picture substitution table in helping Year 5 in simple sentences construction.3. To increase pupils ability and interest in simple sentences constructions using

picture substitution table.Research Questions:1. Does using picture substitution table help pupils in constructing simple

sentences ?

2. How can I improve the construction of simple sentences for Year 5 pupils using

picture substitution table?

3. How does the picture substitution table assist the pupils effectively to construct

the simple sentences?

4.0 Who will my research participant be? The participants of this research consist of 15 pupils from Year 5 pupils, which will be of mixed abilities class of pupils, who obtained marks from the range of highest to the lowest marks for English Language in the previous semester examination. They have a low proficiency in English language as shown in appendix 1.

Appendix 1:

Profile of the Respondents

Location of the student : SJKC Hing Hwa Tambun

Respondents : Year 5

Total number

: 15 Pupils

Gender

: 7 males

: 8 females

Nationality

: Mixed (Chinese, Indians and Malay)

Background Information of the Respondents Gender

NumberFamily BackgroundEnglish level

Male

Respondent 1Father : Sales person , Mother : a Cambodian housewife Good

Respondent 2Father : Soldier, Mother: housewifeIntermediate

Respondent 3Both parent working in Singapore, staying with uncle.Intermediate

Respondent 4Father : Contractor, Mother: housewifeIntermediate

Respondent 5Both parents are working.Intermediate

Respondent 6both parents are workingLower Intermediate

(slow Learner)

Respondent 7 Staying with untieSpecial need child (OKU)

Female

Respondent 8Single parent family.Good

Respondent 9Single parent family.Intermediate

Respondent 10 Single parent family.Intermediate

Respondent 11 Father : Businessman , Mother : housewifeIntermediate

Respondent 12 Mother : housewifeIntermediate

Respondent 13 Mother : housewifeIntermediate

Respondent 14Father : hawker , Mother : hawkerIntermediate

Respondent 15 Father : fruiterer , Mother : fruiterer Lower Intermediate

(slow Learner)

Total15 respondent

In the year 2014 KSSR pupils band achievement. The highest achievement was at band 5 and the lowest was at band 1. It was not a very ideal achievement. As my pupils family background are unique, so I think this might be one of the reason why they are at the different levels. Although they are studying in a school located in Tambun town, which is a place that is near to Ipoh town area but they have low proficiency in English language. It is because they use their mother tongue to communicate at home and do not belong to an English language speaking family as mostly their mother is a full time house wife, or they stay with the grandparents whom acted as their guardians. Their parents or guardians do not practice talking in this language at home. Thus, they show less interest in learning English language and English language is perceived to be for learning purposes only. The only time they are exposed to English language is through the English lesson with me in the classroom, so the pupils give less importance to learning the language.

5.0 How will I collect my data? First I apply for the permission to carry out the research from headmistress. A copy of the proposal is submitted together when applying. Once the I gets the approval from her, I will gets approval from pupils as they will be the target participants.

The three instruments that will be used in colleting my research data are pre- and post test, observations checklist and structured interview questionnaire. Pre- and post test, observations check list and questionnaire fall under the category of quantitative data. Structured interview fall under qualitative data. The pre-test will be given to the students selected before the actual research is being carried out. Students are given a worksheet answer individually within a time frame of half an hour. All pupils are to do the test. The data will be collected by me. The scores of both the groups will be recorded in a mark sheet before starting with the same treatment using the worksheet. At the end of the research the post-test will be imposed again just like the pre-test. The same test paper will be used to test the students. The researcher will compare the marks of the experimental group and the controlled group in terms of improvements in the test score. A pre-test will be conducted to obtain the level of proficiency of the students and their ability in sentences writing. Then the post-test will be given after the treatment . After this, the mean of the scares from both the pre-test and the pos-test will be calculated. The difference between the mean will be used to show the significance of the differences. According to Jessica L. Gouldthorpe and Glenn D. Israel mentioned in the journal The pretest-posttest model is a common technique for capturing change in Extension programming (Allen & Nimon, 2007; Rockwell & Kohn, 1989). With measurements being collected at the beginning and end of the program, program effects are often revealed by calculating the differences between the two measures (Pratt et al., 2000). Pre-test - post-test designs measure change resulting from interventions by comparing pre-intervention information to post-intervention information. It is important to get the same respondents to take part in both pre & post-tests in order to draw valid conclusions. Pre-and post test is focusing on constructing simple sentences and identifying the tenses usage. This is where I undertake measurement before and after an intervention Pupils will be given a worksheet such as below each on simple sentences construction and identifying mistakes in the text before and after pupils were expose to picture substitution table as shown in appendix 2. Appendix 2:Pre- Post test

Name :__________________________ Class : Year _____

A. Write simple sentences based on the pictures and words given.

Picture 1:

cycle read run eat

1. _____________________________________________________________2. ____________________________________________________________3. ____________________________________________________________4. ____________________________________________________________

B. Circle the errors in the text and rewrite them in the space provided.Picture 2:

Mrs. Tan and Mrs. Wong is at the beach. They brings along their children to the beach. Both women sits on a mat under a shady tree. They talks about their children while looking at them. Their children plays happily at the beach. Mrs. Tans son, David, build a sandcastle next to Mrs. Wongs children. They builds a larger sandcastle than David and Davids cousins plays ball in the water. They has an enjoyable time together.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next, observation will be used as a method of collecting research data, it involves observing behaviour and will be systematically recorded the result of those observations , it is conscious and planned. It will be guide by the research questions. The observation will be systematically recorded by using an observation checklist. They will be analyzed using quantitative methods. The rationale behind this type of observation is mainly to enable me to identify pupils strengths and weaknesses that might caused the errors in sentences constructing. The rubric of observation will be prepared. Observation checklists allow teachers to record information quickly about how students perform in relation to specific outcomes from the program of studies. Observation checklists, written in a yes/no format can be used to assist in observing student performance relative to specific criteria. They may be directed toward observations of an individual or group. These tools can also include spaces for brief comments, which provide additional information not captured in the checklist in appendix 3. Appendix 3:

Pupils Observation Checklist

Name : _______________________________ Class : _____________Put a ( / ) in the boxes below .

No.ItemsTick ( / )Comments

YesNo

1Promote active participation among pupils during writing lesson.

2.

Able to increase Pupils ability in sentence construction.

3.Improve pupils ability in identifying errors and rewrite the sentences.

4.Pupils show understanding by adding s or es to the verb in a sentence, if the subject of the sentence is a singular noun.

5.Refer to the picture substitution table in sentence constructions

6.Change pupils attitude towards the lesson into more positive manner.

7.Is practical and relevant for the use in teaching to be use in the lower primary level.

8.Boost pupils interest in sentence constructions.

9.Cater to different learning styles.

10.Attract lesson by active participating

Other than that, structured interview questionnaire are another methods that will be one of the instrument in data collection. I will be using a structured interview where the questionnaire will be administer to each respondent. Questionnaire Is practical and large amounts of information can be collected from respondents in a short period of time and in a relatively cost effective way. It also can be carried out by the researcher or by any number of people with limited affect to its validity and reliability. In addition to that, the results of the questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily quantified by either a researcher or through the use of a software package. The data can be analyzed more 'scientifically' and objectively than other forms of research, when data has been quantified, it can be used to compare and contrast other research and may be used to measure change and lastly positivists believe that quantitative data can be used to create new theories and / or test existing hypotheses. Structured interview questionnaire as shown in appendix 4.Appendix 4:Structured Interview Questionnaire

Name : _____________________________ Class : _____________

Put a ( / ) in the boxes below .

NoItemsScaleComments

12345

1I like to use the picture substitution table as a guide for me to write simple sentences.

2.

I always speak English with your family at home.

3I have learnt that writing simple sentences in English is easy .

4The exercises or practices given by your English teacher will help me to improve in your sentences writing.

5I understand that I need to add s or es to the verb in a sentence, if the subject of the sentence is a singular noun.

6I can understand the form of verb in a sentence by looking at the subject.

7I always refer to my teacher if I have difficulties in writing sentences.

8I can use and apply this skills in constructing longer sentences.

9.I can understand the instruction given by your English teacher in the class.

Scales:

1. Strongly disagree

2. disagree

3. slightly disagree

4. agree

5.Strongly agree

6.0 What is my recommended intervention?

The concept of action research by Kurt Lewin appears in his 1946 paper Action Research and Minority Problems. In that paper, he described action research as a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action that uses a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of the action as shown in appendix 5 :Appendix 5 : Kurt Lewins Action Research ModelThe Lewinian Spiral summarizes the step that will be taken in the implementation of action. I would like to organize my work and reports following his cycle of steps such shown above. For this research, I will refer to the four steps in Kurt Lewin model. The first step is to plan. Before planning, I will observe my pupils weaknesses as well as initiate discussions after having determined their weakness is pronunciation skills. Later, I will plan to use picture substitution table to treat this problem. For the acting stage, I will collect the pupils data based on their past year PKSR 2 result. In the third step, I will observe pupils achievements before, during and after the interventions. Before the first intervention, I will give them a pretest to have allow me to identify their level of ability in sentence construction. After the second intervention, I will ask my colleague from other language panel to observe my pupils behavior. For this reason, I will plan another observation by a the class teacher of the pupils progress and finally after the fifth intervention, the post-test will be held. For the pupils, I will give them a structured interview questionnaire to gauge their opinions on how the picture substitution table could help them in improving their sentences writing s skills. The last step of this Kurt Lewin model is reflect where the results of these three instruments which are the posttest, behavioral observation as well as the structured interview, will be analyzed. A reflection will be made so as to see whether the plan needs to be revised or modified for the next cycle.

The Gantt chart shown, is the summarize of the steps that will be taken in the implementation of the action. Step 1,is on the first week , I have been reading and searching inputs and to obtain knowledge regarding writing action research proposal. Then, I reflect on teaching and learning to identify focus area and problems related with focus area and related invention until the third week. From the third week to fourth week , I will determine data collection techniques and instruments and do data analysis. For step 2 , I write the first draft of research proposal, I also have discussion with by lecturer on the research proposal on the fifth to eight week. In between this period of time until the tenth week, I will carry out planned lesson with the intervention as proposed , explore and monitor action. In the intervention I will use my Picture Substitution Table chart in the classroom instructional. As according to Sandra McKays(1985) chart and graph are useful devices for practicing patterns, clarifying grammatical relationships and even understanding sociolinguistic, discourse constraints and the verb system. I will prepare two table charts, one will be on the singular subject with singular verbs another one is with plural subject and plural verbs. By using the same pictures but I make a little changes in order to show pupils the differences between agreement between singular and plural nouns with their verbs. From the two tables , I hope that my pupils will be able to identify that s will be added behind the verb if they start their sentences with plural subject and the other way round for the singular subjects. By preparing two different pictures substitution table charts as shown I appendix 6 and 7, pupils will be able to compare and understand the SVO agreement.

Firstly, I will expose my pupils to the plural subject picture substitution table as shown in appendix 6, on the first lesson, then show them to the singular subject picture substitution table as shown in appendix 7 on the second lesson and on the third lesson I will show them both of the tables. I think if I can do this with them, my pupils will be able to improve in simple sentences construction as I believe this will help them to build up the scaffolding in sentences construction.

The rational to my intervention is I believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. This phrase emerged in the USA in the early part of the 20th century. Its introduction is widely attributed to Frederick R. Barnard (1921). Pictures convey information more efficiently and effectively than words do. It is much easier to learn what do actions or verbs do by looking at pictures, rather than by hearing some describe them.

I am totally agree that the Year 5 pupils in SJKC Hing Hwa will learn better and effectively through pictures, posters, videos, games and realias.

Appendix 6:

Plural Subject Substitution Table:

Plural SubjectPlural VerbObject

The twinsI

WeThey

eat sandwiches.

Letters.in the sea.

pictures.

write

swim

draw

Appendix 7: Singular Subject Substitution Table:

Singular SubjectSingular VerbObject

He

She

The boyAli

eatsa sandwich.

a letter.

in the sea.

a picture.

writes

swims

draws

Back to our discussion that is on the 8th to 11th week, I will carry out intended instrumentations regarding my foundlings from the invention. On step 4, I will make it from the twelfth to 17th week, as I need more time to do monitoring and interpret data, as well as to prepare me for the further steps.

On step 5, I have planned it from the 18th week to 21st week. The focuses are on reflection, evaluation effects of action and making conclusion. Step 5 will starts at the22nd week to 25th week. I this four weeks, I will draft, edit and review the research report. Writing the research report will take me around three weeks until the date of submission on the 27th week. The submission will be on the last day of the 27th week.

Cost of StudyThe estimate for the cost of the study is RM33.50. It can be seen in Appendix 8.Appendix 8: Cost of StudyNo ItemsQuantity Cost

1 .A4 paper 1 pktRM 5.00

2.A4 paper ( Coloured) 3 pktsRM 15.00

4.Mounting board 2 pcsRM 25.00

6.UHU glue2 bottlesRM 30.00

7.Paper clip 2 boxesRM 6.00

8.Flash cards2 pktRM 11.00

9. Photostatting services Not recordedRM 10.00

Total costRM102.00

7.0 How will I analyze my data? The scores of the pre-post test will be recorded in the descriptive statistics, it will be calculated in order to evaluate on improvement made by using formula as below.

Source : ( Prosiding Seminar , 2014)The differences in the score will be used in order to represent the improvement in respondents performance. This data will help to indicate the minority and majority improvement in simple sentence construction. I will be able to identify the improvement for each respondent from the lowest to the highest range.

The data then will be presented in a form of bar chart. Bar chart is achartwithrectangularbars withlengthsproportional to the values that they represent. A chart that uses either horizontal or vertical bars to show comparisons among categories of pupils that are good, intermediate and lower Intermediate. One axis of the chart shows the result of two categories that are Pre and Post test being compared, and the other axis represents a discrete value. From the that pupils observation checklist that I am going to carry out, I will collect data based on the founding that I am going to discovered and gather during my invention. The data analysis will be display on a table that will shows the result of the respondents answer Yes or No. from the checklist , I would be able to identify respondents problems and take further action to make changes to improve the respondents simple sentences writing ability.Lastly, structured interview questionnaire will enable me to collect data on respondents perceptions towards my teaching and learning in the intervention that I will carry out with them. The information in the structured interview will lead me to get to know my respondents more, based on the information I will be able to identify their strength and weaknesses.

Conclusion The action study proposal will enable me to indicate a new method in dealing with my Year 5 pupils problem in simple sentences construction that has been occurring throughout the years. The steps from zero to the end will be a success and it will gives a big impact to me in my instructional especially in teaching writing skill and it will allow pupils to reach for a higher achievement in sentences construction in the future.References

Books :

1. Dr. Goh Lay Huah (2012). A pratical guide to writing your action research. Penerbitan Multimedia. Malaysia.2. Patsy M. Lightbown & Nina Spada.(2006).How language are learned.

(fourth edition) Oxford, London.

3. Hyacinth Gaudart. (2006). English language teaching practices. Sasbadi

Sdn Bhd.Malaysia. 4. Pratt,C.C.,McGuigan, W,M.,& Katzev, A. R. (2000). Measuring program outcomes:Using retrospective pretest methodology.American Journal of Evaluation,21(3),341349. 5. Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R.(2003).Educational research: An

Introduction(7th ed.). New York, NY: Allyn and Bacon.

6. Annamaria Pinter.(2005).Teaching young language learners.Oxford University Press.London. 7. David H. Deterding, Gloria R.Poedjosoedarmo.(2000).Grammar basics. Printice hall.London. 8. H.Douglas Brown. Teaching by principles.(third edition).(2009).Pearson longman.UK. 9. Scott Thornbury.How to teach grammar(2005).Longman.Uk.Internet:

1. http://www.sjut.ac.tz 2. http://www.edu.plymouth.ac.uk/RESINED/QUESTS/index.htm 3. http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk 4. http://www.sjut.ac.tz 5. http://www.people.uncw.edu 6. Http://www.luizataviobarros.com 7. Abby Pavlik.Teaching english language learner from china.(2012). University of Hampshire.USA. Http://scholar.edu/honors

Appendixes:

Percentage of pre-test scores

(%)

Scores obtained in

pre-test

total scores

Percentage of pre-test scores

(%)

Scores obtained in

pre-test

total scores

X 100

X 100

14